OK. Here we go... EVERYTHING WAS GREAT!

...thats it. Why are you still reading??? ;)

No really, everything went better than anyone could have expected. There were some hitches that no one really noticed. We didn't either so it doesn't matter. ;) But I'm gonna start from the rehersal...

The night seemed to be rushed and a little confusing. The married couple that was going to rehearse with us did not seem to... well not know what they were doing is not right, but they didn't seem to know how the priest was going to do the marriage so they had a lot of things backwards and mixed up. It probably didn't help that they had a different version of the rehersal book than we had... :\ Anyway, the practice went fine, and so did the dinner afterwards. A lot of food. Tons of talking and chatting. Looks like everyone liked the gifts from Totem and I as well. She got all her brides maids jewelry boxes with a necklace that had the first letter of each of their names on it. I got the grooms men all tall mugs that held about a liter of whatever they wanted. I stayed a little later than everyone. But ended up at my parents house around 11PM for the sleep. Totem stayed at her parents house with all the girls. The guys were invited over to my parents house but b/c of distance, only half stayed there.

The day of... July 31, 2004. I wake up around 9AM. Get dressed and ready to go. We were all ready and the only one who seemed to be nervous was my mom. :) So we pull out of the driveway and we see a limo coming. No... We all started saying it couldn't be. It was supposed to be picking us up at the reception hall. It passes and it is from the limo company. It gets to the end of the street and turns around. Crap. I hop out and drive with him back to the reception hall while my dad and bro go get everyone else. When we got to the hall, everyone was there in about 10 mins and we headed over to the church.

Then the wait. And wait. And wait... Traditional, I was told. To my surprise, I wasn't really nervous. Sweating, because of heat, yes. Some pictures were taken and I got to say a message to Totem for our wedding video. 15 minutes after the wedding was supposed to start, the limo with the girls shows up. Nerves kick in. :p And the girls start walking up the aisle before the priest was ready. He peeks out and sees 2 of them almost all the way to the frint and we rush out with the altar servers. The rest is just typical. Read from bible. Do you. Do you. Kiss. Married. YIPPEE!!!

Pictures. Our photographer shot everything digitally so my Dad was able to get them online a day or two after he go them back. Since there are over 620 of them, I'm not going to repost all of them, but just list a link. Some of my favorites are displayed right below the link here. Click it if you want to see all 620 of them... Included the "circus" that happened the morning of at Totem's parents house. ;)

Wedding Pictures.

You're still reading??? You deserve a cookie!!! On to the 6 hour limo ride with LOTS of pictures. FIrst stop on the trip was the Buffalo Botanical Gardens. The weather was not cooperating so we were seeking an indoor retreat. Unfortunately, we were, or at least I was, kind of taken back by the little old lady sitting at the door. "$50 donation to get your pictures taken here." We said OK and proceeded to walk in out of the rain. She was like a hawk. The daggers in my back made me pay the $50 (with the help of everyone, and especially kirk11235) even though some in the party objected. I just wanted a picture. If the little old lady wanted money, I gave it to her, but I made sure it went into a donation box for the gardens instead of her pocket. At least that way I know were the money was going... I hope. Anyway, it was warm. There were a lot of plants and I think Jay and another one of my grooms men had a little too much fun playing with the bushes shaped like animals. I'd post pictures but they are on his camera... :p

Afterwards we went to a local waterfall called Glens Falls. Just a beautiful place. It wasn't sunny but there was no rain so Totem and I got our wish for some nice outdoor pictures. Posing was fun. Got some very interesting shots (me holding my sister-in-law's leg, my brother-in-law face planting in his girlfriend's chest, couple shots, etc...). We were there for a little while, but managed some how to show up before the other 3 or 4 wedding parties showed up. It was nice to see all the different colors that everyone chose, especially because of how good the purple looked when compared to the teal-ish and blue dresses we saw...

After that we went back to my college and got pictures at the usual picture spot for most people who go there. The University at Buffalo's Baird Point. The only thing the really happened here, which was out of the ordinary, was that we (maybe just me and not we) made all the bride walk through mud and goose "stuff" to get to the point. Only after we got there did we find a path. Opps... ;) Plus, since the point was high up almost all the girls had to be lifted up. I think totem's sister was the only one who got up on her own, even if she did have a little slip. ;)

And another first... I have to make a part #2 b/c I ran out of space in this entry... I didn't know there was a limit. ;) If you're still reading this, you REALLY deserve a cookie! :p

If anyone wants to see the pictures that Totem's sister, Raindancer, took, click here... They're really good!!! Check 'em out!

Part #2 will probably be up tomorrow...